How HR can add value to your business

“Is Human Resources there for the business or the employees?” is a question I ask any prospective employee when I am recruiting for a team I am leading or for someone else. The answer to this question can tell you a lot about what kind of a HR professional that prospective employee will be and if they will add value to the business’ top and bottom lines.

From observing a lot of businesses HR functions, it would appear company Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers and even HR Managers/Directors are struggling with how their HR function can add value to their business, and if indeed HR functions can add value at all.

I am a firm believer HR can add tremendous value to a business’ top and bottom lines in tangible and intangible ways. For those HR Managers/Directors, Chief Executive Officers or Chief Financial Officers wondering how their HR function can turn from a cost centre into a vital value add function for the business, over the following weeks I will be writing about the following areas to show how HR can add value to your business.

1. HR needs to have a meaningful seat at the table with a business first approach
2. Organisation Design – ensuring the business is running the right structure and operating model to meet its objectives
3. Keep it simple – initiatives need to be kept simple – Standardise, Simplify, Optimise
4. Basics are a given – disciplinary processes, addressing performance, policies and procedures, restructuring, contract generation and HR Administration
5. Bring clarity to what employees need to be achieving in their jobs
6. Attract and Recruit talented people and the solid performers efficiently and effectively
7. Employment Relations – dealing with unions, collective negotiations, employee disputes and issues
8. Terms and conditions of employment – individual and collective terms and conditions
9. Aligned remuneration strategy
10. Targeted leadership and functional development frameworks
11. Integrated talent management and succession planning
12. Hold leaders accountable for actions and make sure they are leading their teams
13. Employee engagement
14. Managing restructuring and change
15. Providing meaningful HR metrics and analytics

The above blogs will be simple how-to guides for organisations to follow to ensure they are getting value from their HR functions. HR can lead by example, develop tools and frameworks and drive initiatives, but at the end of the day it comes down to managers needing to do what is in their job descriptions and position title, and that is manage and lead their employees.

Leadership = Culture = Behaviour = Results